It was clear that Wu Yu's attitude didn't change after becoming an Earthly Saint, but was further reinforced by his belief in the choice he had made. Standing before Wei Wuyin, Wu Yu knew that he would no longer regret or contemplate his position as the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn.
And as if sensing his thoughts, Wei Wuyin's slightly pale expression revealed a teasing smile as he said: "Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn?" The hint of a smirk was seen, and Wu Yu chortled in response.
"At your service, Young Lord." Wu Yu's expression became dignified as he kneeled on one knee in the Dark Void, treating the space as if it was solid ground. This caused Wei Wuyin and Wen Mingna to be astonished to the point of being stunned.
If anyone were to say that an Earthly Saint that cultivated the Imperial Heaven Qi Method was willing to kneel before a single mortal, they would be in absolute disbelief and refuse the notion. They might laugh, treating it as nothing more than a joke said in jest.
Wei Wuyin's outstretched hand trembled. The veins on his grey-scaled hand protruded fiercely, throbbing from immense strain. Without warning, he pulled away, and the Void Portal shuttered until it eventually collapsed entirely.
"Rise," Wei Wuyin heaved a fascinated breath at Wu Yu's wholehearted display. Wu Yu didn't mind it, so he rose immediately and turned around to see the collapsed Void Portal that contracted until it blipped out of existence. His mind was filled with curiosity, but he decided against questioning it. He sensed around cautiously and noted they were outside of the Aeternal Sky Starfield, directly next to the border of the Elementus Domain.
Astonished again, Wu Yu looked at Wei Wuyin with intrigued eyes.
Wei Wuyin looked at his shaky palm. The negatives of creating a unique art like the Void Creation Portal was the inherent need to explore its advantages and disadvantages. Without guidance, he hadn't been able to explain why he was capable of creating a Void Portal with ease while outside of spatially restrictive formations and arrays, but found it abnormally strenuous, if not outright impossible, while within it. Even if he was conjuring a Void Portal inside the spatially restrictive formation or array.
It was only now that he figured out the cause. The formations and arrays of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region were designed for one-way transits of Void Gates, to prevent entry from external forces to prohibit a sudden invasion. This was the designed feature for every formation or array of the sort, and it was limited by this world's current technological developments of Void Gates.
However, his Void Portals were two-way transits that connected to each other. This was why a Void Portal would manifest at the targeted location, unlike Void Gates, where cultivators seemingly manifest out of thin air at their destination after traversing through it.
The interconnected fashion of two points allowed him to act as a primary anchor, unencumbered by spatial influence, and like a unique void burrowing worm, they constructed his Void Portal tunnels to his pre-planned destination. While he needed a marker, such as his own spiritually-infused spatial rings, to be within range of his Spiritual Sense or aware of a specific Void Portal's coordinates, this allowed him to bypass any restriction.
Yet, if he tried to act as the anchor within a spatially restricted area, he would find it immensely difficult. He faced this when trying to depart with Yue Songli and Bai Lin, exhausting a hefty portion of his entire reserves to compensate. This issue might dissipate if his cultivation reaches a high enough stage, but it'll still impact his abilities.
Fortunately, the Earth-Sky-Heaven Mystic Array was similarly designed with this flaw that few could discover or capitalize upon. That being said, it was far more complex than other formations of this type.
Wen Mingna sent Wu Yu a look, sensing that unfathomable aura that he emitted. The Grand Monarch Wu Yu whom she felt incredible admiration towards, had entered the Earthly Saint phase and eluded the pursuit of the Everlore Association for three full days, trapped in their mystic-graded array.
She walked forward, unhesitatingly giving him a look, gesturing towards his right arm. Wu Yu was startled for a moment, glancing at Wei Wuyin before realizing that Wei Wuyin was currently enveloped in his thoughts. He lifted his brow towards Wen Mingna but didn't hesitate to lift his right arm towards this Heavenly Seer.
She touched his outstretched arm without fret or fear, pulling his sleeves upwards and feeling how incredible the material of his robes were. With a slight breath, her eyes became glossy golden. Wu Yu realized his three-inch mystic tattoo, a spell against Seers and Oracles, was faintly reacting.
Wen Mingna inhaled heavily; her eyes regained their original color and clarity. "Your Divine Eye-Sealing Spell is powerful, designed from a high-level foundation. However, it's too weak to guard against powerful Seers and Oracles. Use your innate energies to reinforce it. Considering your strength, even the Fate Princes might find it difficult to glimpse any detail of your life." After speaking her warning, she returned to Wei Wuyin's side, leaving a wowed Wu Yu in her wake.
Wu Yu nodded knowingly, realizing that he had to beef up his protections against those with divination means. This three-inch, white-colored, intermixed with multicolored stars was the spell he copied from Ma Sujiang. Considering she was a member of the Golden Life Pavilion, the anti-divination spell she used must not be ordinary.
°It is quite useful to have a Seer on hand,° Wu Yu thought. He wondered if Wei Wuyin escaped the attempt on his life due to her? If so, she was too amazing.
Wei Wuyin completed his thoughts regarding the Void Portals. The idea to establish a perpetually formed anchor that could be interacted with while in spatially restricted areas was born, but its logistics was far too intricate to grasp in a short moment.
Wei Wuyin, Wen Mingna, and Wu Yu entered the archaic Voidship and floated in the Dark Void. Wu Yu began to explain the various changes he felt towards his new cultivation level, the events that happened in the Ever-Knight battles, and his discoveries. When he proudly revealed his 8th Runic Ascendant state to them, they weren't that impressed, but when he mentioned the 3rd Runic Ascendant state of the Ever-Knights, Wei Wuyin was absolutely stunned.
While the trio discussed the events peacefully, the rigorous search for Wu Yu continued. After finding nothing for five full days, yet knowing fully that Wu Yu hadn't escaped the Sky Shell World before its manifestation, the Everlore Association deployed the four Earthly Saints to search the area for an exuberantly high-price.
For another three days, they scoured the entire Everlore Domain without missing a single spot, but discovered nothing. The Everlore Association was clearly frustrated as they upped the suppression of mystic forces, giving the four Earthly Saints exemption tokens, and redoubled their efforts. The sheer cost of maintaining the Earth-Sky-Heaven Mystic Array per minute was astonishingly, heartbreakingly high.
It cost the Everlore Association roughly a mystic stone in similarly graded materials every minute, including rare spatially-attributed mystic-graded materials. In ten days, they had already lost 15,000 Mystic Stones worth of materials just maintaining the Sky Shell World and the suppressive effects of the formation. This was exacerbated by their increased suppression.
While they were rich, they weren't that rich. At this point, they were going to have to tap into their reserve funds, kept for emergencies and war invasions. The Everlore Association might be a haven of alchemy, wealthy bastards of absurd wealth called Alchemists, but materials of the mystic-grade were finite at any given moment.
Unable to bear the cost, they deactivated the array after the thirteenth day in a defeated manner. They concluded that Wu Yu had somehow escaped prior to the activation of the array, an attempt to save face for their inability to seize a foreign Earthly Saint in their territory.
But their attempt was a bandaid to a rapidly deteriorating situation after the bubble sealed their territory! When freedom of movement was regained, the Earthly Saints left their territory with satisfied smiles, news of the events started to spread across the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region like wildfire.
While an official story was put out there, explaining the destruction of Rainbow Sky and the severe loss of life on the Ever-Knight being interrupted while refining a volatile mystic-graded material, and when jolted by another Earthly Saint's attack, even a newly ascended Earthly Saint, they temporarily lost control of their powers. An unfortunate event.
The Everlore Association offered all sorts of compensation and expressed a willingness to establish a memorial. It was them taking the blame and trying to make amends that allowed them some reprieve, but some wasn't enough. The news of Wu Yu, the All-Alchemic Clash Royale, and recorded events was spread. This included Wu Yu's words of saying it was deliberate!
Supposedly, the Everlore Association had stealthily tried to seal away the recordings after the erection of the Earth-Sky-Heaven Mystic Array, so only low-quality details were revealed, but it was enough. Typically, the dissenting voices of the Everlore Association were non-existent, but this matter was huge!
Because that Ever-Knight had clearly acted while Wu Yu was acting in a non-hostile capacity, attempting to announce the All-Alchemic Clash Royale for Wei Wuyin, the mysterious and elusive Grand Mortal Sovereign Alchemist that invented the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill! Furthermore, the first thing that happened was the destruction of Rainbow Sky.
Those intelligent cultivators delved into the event with a microscope and a scalpel, and soon word that the Everlore Association believed Wei Wuyin was on Rainbow Sky was spread. At first, it felt too much like a conspiracy. But then the emotionally-charged roar of Wu Yu and 'punishment' of the Ever-Knight while 'sparing' his life on the orders of the Young Lord spoke volumes.
Wu Yu's acting had lit a fire in their minds that couldn't be extinguished!
Was the Everlore Association trying to kill Wei Wuyin? And if so, why? Since the King of Everlore, and even slightly before that, alchemists were always treasured resources. Because you can't breed a talented alchemist with any known means, so it was mostly up to luck. Every last one was far too important and beneficial to the starfield's continued growth.
Unfortunately, the Everlore Association put out an announcement after facing the heat that stated Wei Wuyin was not on the planet when it was destroyed, and his life was not in danger. While there was some semantics involved, the Alchemist Association lowered the intensity of questions regarding this topic.
However, without warning, the Golden Gate Pavilion issued a statement regarding this statement. It was a single word directed towards the Everlore Association, and it birthed renewed speculation. It said: "Fear!"
While cryptic, many concluded that the Everlore Association was scared of the backlash, or perhaps Wei Wuyin was now afraid of the Everlore Association even if they weren't at fault! Still, the Everlore Association responded swiftly to this message, saying that they invited Wu Yu, the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn, to the Saint Cyclic Renewal Summit, swearing to end hostilities to reassure Wei Wuyin of his safety. Just like the others, he would be protected by the Mythical Oaths established and no longer pursued.
This move brilliantly maneuvered the belief of that single word, making it seem as if the Everlore Association wanted to display how they had no ill-intent toward Wei Wuyin.
This settled the raging assumptions but further brought into focus the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn, Wu Yu! His identity and who he was soon became widely public knowledge, and the stellar region was shaken!
